IPU 132 adopts Hanoi Declaration

The 132nd Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU-132), which
took place in Hanoi from March 28 to April 1, has adopted the Hanoi
Declaration on The Sustainable Development Goals: Turning Words into
Action.

The following is the full text of the declaration:

“We, parliamentarians from 133 countries and 23 international and
regional parliamentary organizations, gathered in Hanoi, Vietnam,
reviewed the emerging sustainable development goals and considered our
role in attaining them.

This is our declaration.

Despite global advances in technology, health, knowledge, and
material wealth, long-standing economic and social disparities are
increasing, to the detriment of the whole planet, with progress
continuing to elude many the world over.

This
situation –exacerbated by the urgent threat of climate change and
growing waves of social unrest, political instability, and conflict
within or between countries – is coming to a head. As we saw with the
Millennium Development Goals, international commitments can only be met
with strong political will, leadership and national ownership. As
parliamentarians, we have a moral obligation to act.

The adoption of the new post-2015 development agenda and its
sustainable development goals in September 2015 will afford a unique
opportunity to meet global challenges, using a universal, integrated
approach that will apply to all countries and link poverty eradication
to sustainable development.

Vision

At this critical moment, we, the parliamentarians of the world,
reaffirm our vision of a people-centered sustainable development based
on the realization of all human rights, to eradicate poverty in all its
forms, and eliminate inequalities, thus empowering all individuals to
exercise their full potential. This requires conditions of peace and
security, in full observance of the Charter of the United Nations and
international law.

Poverty eradication and
sustainable development are a shared commitment for us all, and we
should all strive towards a better and more equitable distribution of
resources. Our current production and consumption patterns are clearly
unsustainable, and all countries – both developed and developing – need
to work together, based on the principle of common but differentiated
principles. That is the only way we can advance towards a common model
of inclusive and sustainable growth.

A
people-centred approach requires environmental justice: the planet and
all its ecosystems must be treated as common assets for the whole of
humanity to enjoy now and in the future. Human well-being must be the
driver of all policies for sustainable development, and progress
measured in terms that go well beyond Gross Domestic Product. People are
more than taxpayers and consumers; they are citizens endowed with
rights and responsibilities towards each other. We must invest in them –
their health, nutrition, education, and skills – as our most important
resource.

All government institutions must be
representative and accessible to all. Cultural differences should be
respected, and home-grown approaches to sustainable development
employed. All people, regardless of gender, race, culture, religion and
health status, must be empowered to work cooperatively for peace and the
common good.

Commitment

Acknowledging that the sustainable development goals will be result
of a delicate compromise, we look forward to this transformational
framework that will inspire policy-making in all countries.

We are pleased that our efforts to advocate the inclusion of goals on
healthy lives and well-being, gender equality and women’s empowerment,
reducing inequalities within and between countries, and on governance,
have borne fruit. We appreciate the broadened focus on health, which
will provide an opportunity to end the AIDS epidemic while tackling
emerging challenges such as non-communicable diseases.

We welcome the new goal calling for urgent action against climate
change, and we appreciate the broad-based goal on the means of
implementation – finance, trade, technology, capacity building and
systemic reforms –that must be mobilized behind the new framework. This
goal should inject new energy into the current global partnership for
development.

We commit to do our utmost to
strengthen national ownership of the goals, particularly by making them
known to our constituents. People must understand how the goals are
relevant to their lives. As representatives of the people, we are
responsible for ensuring that each and every voice is heard in the
political process without discrimination and irrespective of social
status.

We commit translating the goals into
enforceable domestic laws and regulations, including through the
critical budget process. Each country must do its part to ensure that
all the goals are met.

Action

As parliamentarians, we must support efforts to reach the new goals
in ways that respect each country’s national specificities. Our
responsibility is clear: to hold governments accountable for the goals
they have subscribed to, and to make sure that enabling laws are passed
and budgets adopted.

Our first order of business
must be to examine our institutions and decision-making processes to
ensure that they are fit for purpose .

As
representatives of the people, our concern is to defend the public
interest and pursue the common good above all else. We must prevent
particular interests from exercising excessive influence in our
deliberations. We must focus on building consensus around practical
solutions.

We will seek to overcome the silos
mentality within our own parliaments and national administrations, to
reflect the intersectoral nature of the goals. To this end, we will do
our utmost to institutionalize the goals in every parliament, with
sufficient time for discussion and monitoring. Parliamentary committees
and processes must pursue all goals coherently.

We will help build national ownership of the goals by seeing to it that
each of our countries has a sustainable development plan, crafted in an
inclusive and participatory manner, including through public hearings
with civil society, and in line with the international human rights
framework.

We pledge to make laws and
budgetary provisions in line with the national sustainable development
plan, clearly identifying the goals and targets that apply and means of
funding. Governments should report annually to parliaments on the
implementation of the national plan. Parliaments should garner regular
feedback from their constituents to help assess progress on the ground,
where it matters most.

We further pledge to
measure progress not only in terms of national averages, most
importantly by looking at how the most vulnerable and disadvantaged in
our societies have fared. No one should be left behind. Strong national
capacities for data collection and disaggregation, including by gender,
age, minority group, and health status, will be crucial.

Recognizing our role in mobilizing the means to attain the goals,
including financing from private and public sources, and at both the
national and international levels, we will support the implementation of
all international commitments. In particular, we will work to increase
domestic resources, including by combating illicit financial flows. We
will improve the quality and quantity of aid, set out an orderly
sovereign debt restructuring mechanism, strengthen the environment for
private sector investments, including through public-private
partnerships, and reform the global financial, monetary and trade regime
in ways that directly support sustainable development.

Lastly, we pledge to support accountability for meeting the goals at
the global level. We will seek to join our national delegations to the
yearly meetings of the United Nations Economic and Social Council, where
global progress reports will be discussed. We will contribute to the
national reviews submitted to the United Nations High-level Political
Forum on Sustainable Development. Wherever feasible, we will seek to
engage with United Nations field operations in our countries to share
information and explore all avenues for cooperation to advance our
national plans.

We ask that the central
messages of this Declaration and of its predecessor, the Quito
Communiqué, be reflected in the outcome of the Fourth World Conference
of Speakers of Parliament later this year, which will in turn provide
input to the United Nations Summit in September 2015.

We urge governments to conduct negotiations keeping in mind the real
needs and expectations of citizens and addressing the critical linkages
between sustainable development, democratic governance and human rights.
The Post-2015 United Nations Declaration should commit to building
strong public institutions, including parliaments with the ability and
capacity to ensure accountability for results. We encourage the drafters
of the Declaration to acknowledge the critical role and responsibility
of parliaments – and of the IPU as their world organization - in
implementing and monitoring progress on the new development agenda.

Moreover, we stress that coherence between the
outcomes of this year’s negotiations on the post-2015 development
agenda, financing for development, climate change, and disaster risk
reduction is essential for effective implementation at the national
level.

We are profoundly grateful to the
Inter-Parliamentary Union, our world organization, for raising our
awareness of the Sustainable Development Goals and for making our voices
heard at the United Nations. We will continue to look to the IPU for
support in our efforts to attain the sustainable development goals.